Oh Well

As Sea the Stars is now retired, all pre-race speculation on whether he would run in the Breeders Cup Classic is now gone. So instead of talking about a potentially spectacular BC Classic field of Sea the Stars, Zenyatta, Rachel Alexandra, and Summer Bird, the air is out of the balloon and talk has shifted to who will win the Horse of the Year. So maybe no one is talking about the Breeders Cup, but the various horse racing channels of chatter have filled up with who the Horse of the Year should be.

People say horse racing is dying, but I see this type of debate as evidence it is not-sure seems like people care to me. I love these debates, it's like the Mays/DiMaggio/Snider debate, it just goes on and on depending on who you love and why.

What seemed a month ago to be a lock for Rachel Alexandra has tightened up with Summer Bird taking the Jockey Cup Gold Cup against older males and Zenyatta winning another one last week.

Over at the Paulick Report there is a Poll running asking who should win the HOTY if Zenyatta runs in the BC Classic and wins it? At last look 55% go with Zenyatta, 41% for RA and 4% for Summer Bird. Not much love for Summer Bird, but what if he were to win the BC Classic? And if someone else besides Zenyatta and Summer Bird win the the BC Classic, does Rachel still get the nod? As awesome as she is, if RA wins the HOTY she would do so without ever racing the "classic" distance of a 1 mile and a 1/4.